The midnight release of Taylor Swift’s latest album had ‘Swifties’ staying up late to be among the first to hear the newest music from the fiancee of NFL star Travis Kelce.
Swift dropped ‘The Life of a Showgirl’, her 12th studio album, and it has already garnered rave reviews from publications – including The Daily Mail, which has hailed as ‘electric and addictive’.
But fans were quick to notice multiple references to Swift’s love story with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Kelce, who proposed to the songstress in August.
Possibly the most glaring reference to the three-time Super Bowl winner and the A-List couple’s engagement came in the ninth track of the album, titled ‘Wood’.
‘Girls, I don’t need to catch the bouquet, mm / To know a hard rock is on the way,’ Swift croons in the second verse of the tune.
The hitmaker penned the lyrics to the song, in collaboration with music producers Max Martin and Shellback, before her NFL beau got down on one knee. But she correctly predicted that a ‘hard rock’ would be coming her way, in the form of an elongated Old Mine diamond to be precise.
Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated 12th album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl’, has been released
The album is loaded with references to her romance with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce
Then in the pre-chorus for the song, the 14-time Grammy Award winner sings, ‘Seems to be that you and me, we make our own luck / New heights (New heights), manhood (Manhood) / I ain’t got to knock on wood.’
It’s a clear mod to the ‘New Heights’ podcast, which is run by Travis and his older brother, Philadelphia Eagles legend Jason Kelce.
Kelce famously used the award-winning podcast to catch the singer’s attention after he attended her Eras Tour concert in Kansas City in the hope of meeting her.
The podcast itself posted a promotional tweet for the album – with Jason and Travis’ faces being photoshopped onto a scene from the movie ‘Mean Girls’.
Swift also showed a bit of a raunchy side on that track, singing, ‘His lovе was the key that opened my thighs’ in the chorus.
The first track on the album, ‘The Fate of Ophelia’, also appears to reference the moment where Kelce shouted Swift out on a podcast in 2023 – which is believed to kick-start their romance.
‘All that time, I sat alone in my tower / You were just honing your powers / Now I can see it all (See it all) / Late one night, you dug me out of my grave and / Saved my heart from the fate of Ophelia (Ophelia) / Keep it one hundrеd on the land, the sea, thе sky,’ the singer croons.
There also appears to be a reference to Kelce in the song ‘Opalite.’ Kelce was born on October 5, 1989, meaning his astrological sign is Libra and his birthstones are opal and tourmaline.
Many of the songs hint to their romance, engagement, and Swift’s hopes for their future
This is Swift’s first album release since the conclusion of her worldwide ‘Eras Tour’
Travis mentioned on an episode of ‘New Heights’ that this was his favorite track: ‘I think ‘Opalite’ might be my favorite,’ Travis said on the August 27 episode. ‘At least right now, every time it comes on, I always catch myself.’
Finally, Swift appears to hint at what she may want in the future with Kelce on the track ‘Wi$h Li$t’: ‘I just want you, huh / Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you / We tell the world to leave us thе f*** alone, and they do, wow / Got me drеaming about a driveway with a basketball hoop / Boss up, settle down, got a wish list (Wish list) / I just want you.’
‘The Life of a Showgirl’ is Swift’s highly-anticipated 12th studio album and the first one that she’s released since the conclusion of her worldwide record-breaking ‘Eras Tour’.
Swift’s last album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, was finalized and released in the middle of the tour’s 2024 leg.
The announcement of this album and its release date came on an episode of ‘New Heights’ which broke multiple records for a podcasting livestream.
That included surpassing the mark for the most live-streamed podcast in YouTube history: beating out then-candidate Donald Trump making an appearance on Joe Rogan.
The stream was so popular that Swifties ended up crashing the YouTube stream at the 1 hour, 44 minute mark.
A few weeks after that, Swift dropped the bombshell of the year that she and Kelce had gotten engaged.
Swift’s Eras Tour, the highest-grossing world tour ever, which lasted for nearly two years
Her 12th era, album cover of The Life Of A Showgirl by Taylor Swift. Released by Republic Records
The NFL’s biggest ‘Love Story’ got the fairytale ending it deserved when the tight end and the pop star were seen embracing in an ornate garden setting.
Whenever the couple do tie the knot, it’s set to be one of the most anticipated celebrity weddings in pop culture history.
Since dating Kelce, Swift has attended many games to watch the star Chiefs tight end perform on the field.
According to quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the team will be listening to the album all throughout their Friday practice.
‘Oh, yeah, for sure. I’m super excited. I haven’t been able to hear the album yet, but I’m super excited to be able to do that,’ Mahomes told radio show ‘The Drive’ on 96.5FM in Kansas City.
‘It’ll be blaring all through the Chiefs facility tomorrow. We’ll be supporting Taylor, and she’s putting in so much hard work to this, and I’m excited to hear the album just like everybody else.’
